Chopper-beard

The three of them looked at Dr. Kureha, who was dressed in a black, tight-fitting leather top and pants. Her face was clearly wrinkled, but her eyes were still full of spirit.

"It's hard to imagine she's 139 years old," Reiner couldn't help but sigh. She looked more alive than he did.

"We're here to see a doctor."

Reiner patted his backside and stood up, gesturing to Zoro beside him. "Can you treat his injuries for us?"

Because of the climbing competition earlier, Zoro had taken off his only thin shirt, leaving his upper body bare. His wounds, which spread across his entire body, looked like a hideous centipede crawling all over him.

"Who are you?" Dr. Kureha didn't answer directly, simply asking, her eyes still a little wary.

"We're Pirates!" Luffy grinned and answered directly.

Hearing this, Chopper, who was hiding behind Dr. Kureha, clutching her legs tightly, peeked his little head out and looked at them curiously. "The Pirates Dr. Hiluluk talked about…"

"I can help you."

Dr. Kureha observed them for a moment before speaking calmly, a playful smirk on her lips. "If you can afford my price…"

"How much?"

Reiner frowned and asked. He had heard from Dalton that this doctor, known as the Witch, charged an exorbitant price for her treatments.

If the price was too high, he'd just wait until they kidnapped Chopper before treating Zoro's injuries.

"Let me see, old woman. How about twenty million Beli!"

So cheap!!!

Reiner was stunned. No, that wasn't right. Twenty million was definitely not a small amount; it was enough for an ordinary family's expenses for many years.

It was only because he was so rich that he reacted this way. While he thought it was cheap inwardly, he immediately cursed out loud:

"Old hag! You're ripping us off! My friend only has a minor injury. Look, he can still climb Drum Mountain with his bare hands! How can you have the nerve to charge twenty million for someone so lively and energetic!"

"Take it or leave it," Dr. Kureha said impatiently. "I said twenty million, and it's twenty million. If you can't pay, don't bother me."

Reiner looked angry, reaching into his clothes as if to pull out a gun.

Dr. Kureha's expression darkened at the sight, and several throwing knives slid out from her sleeves.

Kureha grabbed the knives, ready to throw them.

Kureha froze.

Kureha slowly lowered her hand.

"Twenty million, get to work."

Reiner pulled out a wad of Beli from his clothes, making a gesture to take it, and spoke calmly.

Since it had come to this, she couldn't raise the price anymore, right?

Kureha: "…"

"Interesting kids, follow me."

The three followed Kureha and Chopper into the castle. Zoro was undergoing treatment in the operating room, and his pig-like wails could be heard constantly.

In the hall, Reiner and Luffy were trying to persuade Chopper. After learning they were Pirates, Chopper, though scared, bravely chatted with them out of curiosity.

"Hey, hey, do you have a Pirate flag?" Chopper asked expectantly.

"Hehe, of course we do! I'll draw it for you."

Luffy laughed and immediately grabbed paper and a pen to draw. "Here! It's like this!"

He unfolded the drawing, which showed a crooked skull wearing a… well, let's call it a straw hat. It bore no resemblance to their actual Pirate flag.

Reiner, leaning on the sofa and sipping tea, muttered, "Luffy, your drawing skills are just too…"

"Wow! So cool!!"

"Pfft—! What's cool about it?!"

Reiner spat out his tea. So this is the kind of Chopper-beard you are! He looked at Chopper strangely and said, "But since you yearn to be a Pirate so much, why don't you just sail with us?"

"Exactly, Chopper, come with us," Luffy also invited with a smile.

The excitement on Chopper's face gradually turned to hesitation. He had always dreamed of being a Pirate; Dr. Hiluluk used to be a Pirate, but…

"I can't be a Pirate…" Chopper looked dejected, a hint of sadness in his eyes.

What held him back was himself.

"Why?"

"Don't ask anymore!" Chopper turned and ran off.

"Strange, are there Pirates who can't be Pirates?"

Luffy squatted on the chair like a monkey, looking confusedly in the direction Chopper had left.

Bang

At this moment, the door to the operating room opened. It was actually just a bedroom; after Wapol left, Kureha took over the castle and renovated it.

"All done. Let him rest for a bit."

Dr. Kureha clapped her hands, sat down, grabbed the bottle of liquor from the table, and leaned back on the couch, taking a big gulp. "You two brats, trying to steal my pet while I was gone."

"Haha, you found us out," Luffy said with an indifferent laugh, exposed.

"If you want to take him, go ahead," Kureha said dismissively, a playful smirk on her lips. "If you can manage it, that is."

"Sounds like you're quite happy about it," Reiner chuckled, handing her a cigarette.

"He's always wanted to be a Pirate."

"Then why hasn't he set sail?"

"Because he's sick. A sickness of the heart, and I, his old lady, can't cure it."

She exhaled a smoke ring, closed her eyes as if reminiscing, and slowly began to recount Chopper's past.

"Because of his naturally blue nose, that boy was ostracized by his own kind from birth, always trailing behind the reindeer herd, unaccepted and lonely.

"Later, he accidentally ate a Devil Fruit and was even attacked by the reindeer as an anomaly. Covered in wounds, he came to a human village. You've seen what he looks like; the result was obvious—he was treated as a monster.

"Humans' instinctive fear of the unknown made them unable to accept this monster. Curses, sword swings, even gunshots—they tried everything to drive him away."

Kureha seemed parched, took a big swig of liquor, and continued:

"Until that man appeared, Hiluluk, a clumsy, third-rate doctor who spent his days trying to invent an all-purpose medicine, babbling about making cherry blossoms bloom in this country.

"Yet, it was precisely this kind of man who saved this monster, rejected by both his own kind and humans."

Kureha's liquor was gone. She placed the empty bottle on the exquisitely crafted marble table, a look of disdain on her face.

"After his foster father died, that boy came pestering me, saying he wanted to become a doctor who could cure all illnesses. What a foolish boy."

Kureha looked at the two of them seriously. "He's afraid of being hurt again. He's closed himself off, and gradually, he even started to think of himself as a monster, so..."

Kureha paused, then said playfully, "If you two think you can manage it, then go right ahead."

"Hehehe, I've decided."

Luffy grinned widely. "I'm definitely going to make him our crewmate!"

"That's fitting, our ship is full of monsters anyway."

Reiner chuckled, stood up, and rolled up his dark blue sleeves. "Let's go, Luffy, I can't wait."

"Hehehe, Operation Capture Chopper, begin!" Luffy yelled excitedly, rushing out ahead.

"You two idiots!"

Watching the two run off, Dr. Kureha spat and opened another bottle of liquor, wondering how on earth she'd lived to be over a hundred years old.

"But idiots and idiots just happen to attract each other."

She sank back into the soft couch, gazing absently at the ceiling, a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Are you leaving, Chopper?